The Crossing of the Paths
By MMM/AJ
Part II: Desert Wind

A/N: I decided to split this book up and publish it in chunks. This is the first chunk. Expect the second chunk by the end of June

Chapter I

Ancient Gerudo prophets foretold a time of great sorrow, when all the land would be covered in the vile desert, and an empire of greed and corruption would arise. A dark wanderer would emerge from his travels, and his fate would intertwine with the destiny of the world.

And so the tunnel opened in all its glory. Mewtwo flew in free-fall, spiraling through infinity. The energy of the dimensions pulsed in the tunnel walls, like the heartbeat of a great beast. The swirling vortexes of energy formed a pattern, going in and out of each rip in the dimensional barrier. Perfect balance existed among the violent whirlwind of plasmatic energy.

Mewtwo stared in awe. The sheer scale of the energy and the infinity of it all boggled his mind. He went into a trance as he watched the maelstrom of plasma pulsate and jump through the known color spectrum and into unknown ones. He plummeted in free fall for hours, his mind overloaded and over stimulated. He never once thought of which rupture he would choose to enter in order to enter a new universe. The chaos and beauty filled his senses with fluid energy.

Still he fell, until a sudden irregularity in the energy flow broke his mind away from the infinity. One rupture in the wall of the tunnel was imbalanced. Instead of consuming and excreting an equal amount of energy, this one was sucking on the energy of the tunnel like a vacuum. The colorful, pulsating plasma was rushing down into it like a whirlpool. Mewtwo flew closer to investigate.

He immediately felt the drain. He felt his energy being pulled out of him faster than he could react. He started falling toward the whirlpool. He struggled horribly, pushing away from the hole, while trying to maintain his shield. Not only was the tunnel in a vacuum like space, the swirling plasma which had hypnotized him earlier would tear him to shreds if he fell into it. He would die quickly if his shield gave out, but it would be a very painful death.

Mewtwo felt his energy slipping away quickly. He then made a choice that saved his life. "If I continue to fight this, I will run out of energy, and the shield will give out. If I go through willfully, I might come out somewhere where there's air to breathe. I think it would be smart to go through." He thought. He let go of his control, and flew downwards into the rupture. The energy drain was overpowering. As he fell through the rupture, he looked up to see all the plasma following him down. A rather large sphere flew towards him at a high speed. He tried to adjust his position to dodge it, but he had barely enough energy to maintain his shield. The sphere struck the shield, and Mewtwo went black.

Chapter II

The legend of the ancient magician was passed down from sacred mother to daughter in Gerudo tradition. It told of the eccentric old man and the young Gerudo princess, who could perform amazing acts of power and magic. The young princess had power over the minds of men, and the man had power over physical matter. They both traveled the vile desert together, dreams of love in their minds, until a day of great evil tore them apart. It is said that the princess, ravaged by grief, ran away from her people, into the Far East, never to be seen again.

Mewtwo slowly came back into consciousness. He opened his eyes, which immediately stung from dryness and sand, which had found its way into them. He rubbed them, and looked around. All around him were tall dunes of orange sand. They towered almost 8 feet above and around him, and the howling of a sandstorm raged over the top of the dunes. Mewtwo tried to stand up, but an injury of most severity in his leg brought itself to Mewtwo's attention. He cried out as the pain streaked up his bulbous hip. He looked down and saw bone sticking out of his left knee. Sand had gotten into the wound, and luckily, the bleeding was minimal. He also felt that his ankle was also broken, and the joint in his hip was out of place.

"I must have blacked out as I passed into this dimension," Mewtwo thought, "I fell all the way down to the surface, sustaining all the impact on this leg." He thought. "But one thing boggles me, how could I have survived a fall through space, then the atmosphere, then hitting the ground at such a high speed? I should have burnt up in the atmosphere without my shield, and even then, the impact would have turned me into a big purple pancake." He pondered the possibility of the rupture opening up near the planet's surface, but ruled it out as impossible since the tunnel is a vacuum and it would have hurt the planet's atmosphere.

Mewtwo didn't have long to consider this, though. The pain in his leg was unbearable. He tried to use his recover ability, but was denied when he felt all his energy gone. He could not heal himself, fly, create a shield or new dimensional rupture, or even talk! "So this is how I'm going to die?" He thought. "I'm going to pay with my life for recklessly flying towards an energy sinkhole. I guess this is fair punishment for my stupidity." He thought.

Mewtwo sat there, his ankle buried in sand, and his leg crippled, contemplating his demise. But a small sound in the constant howl of the sandstorm caught his attention. He listened intently, and heard it again. He recognized it as a human voice. His dark thoughts of his own death flew from his mind as he filled his lungs to shout back. He could not talk, but he could sure as heck bellow. And he did, as hard as he could. He waited a few seconds, and he heard an answer, a little more clearly. With thoughts of rescue, he guided the voice to him.

After 45 minutes, the voice was close enough for Mewtwo to not have to shout. He also recognized it as a female voice. He was surprised when the woman stepped over the rim of the crater of dunes. She was wearing a shawl over her head, a red cape, and gigantic parachute pants. She looked down at him. Mewtwo could not see her face, but he could tell she was shocked.

The woman suddenly shouted down at him. "Hello stranger! Are you friend or foe?" Mewtwo thought quickly on how to answer her. He knew his mouth could not speak, so he looked around, and picked up a stick. He wrote in the sand a message for her to read. "A friend in need." The woman walked down to him and read the message.

"Can you not talk?" She asked him. Mewtwo shook his head. "Not a single word?" She asked. Mewtwo wrote another message in the sand. "I'm mute." It read. "I see." The woman said. "What exactly are you?" She asked him. "It is a long story about my appearance." Mewtwo wrote. "I'll tell it to you once we are safe." Mewtwo wrote. "I'll bring you back to my village." The woman replied. "We can heal you there. With a leg like that though, I suppose you can't walk." She said. Mewtwo shook his head. "Very well then. I will haul you to the village, but you must help by supporting some of your weight on your unharmed leg." Mewtwo nodded.

Once the woman had gotten Mewtwo's leg freed from the sand, they both climbed up out of the crater and slogged through the desert. Mewtwo squeezed his eyes shut firmly to keep the sandstorm out. He hopped his right leg along the ground, keeping his left leg suspended, and the woman's arm around his shoulders. They were slow, but they made progress.

Mewtwo tried to distract himself from the pain. He looked up at the starry night sky, looking for familiar constellations. He could find none though, as no two universes had the same arrangement of stars. But stargazing was still one of Mewtwo's favorite pastimes, and that's what he did until they neared the village.

As they come up to the village, a guard in a lone tower shouted something down to them in a language Mewtwo didn't recognize. His guide shouted something back up to the guard in the same language, and the continued on into the village.

The village itself consisted of mud huts and animal skin tents. There were a few more watchtowers like the one that had hailed them earlier. The woman led them into a small mud hut. She gently laid him down on the straw bed in the corner, and said to him, "I am going to get our medicine woman and the sacred mother. You should stay here."

Mewtwo pondered his new predicament. He was out of immediate danger of being eaten or dehydrating, but if this chief decided he was dangerous or a demon, he could end up back out on his own again. He pushed his tail under the straw and laid down to conceal his head to body connection in the straw. He laid there, waiting, staring at the mud and straw roof.

Chapter III

The Day of Great Evil is lamented by all who live to remember it. It was like any other day, the desert winds howled across the sands, and a small procession of workers crossed the dunes. Without guidance, they began building. At the end of the day, they had already finished constructing the vile towers which glistened in setting sun. By nightfall, they began with their foul work. They chugged like giant monsters, and began draining the world around them of all magic energy. The very essence of the world bent to supply them with power, and all who used magic found themselves powerless.

Three women walked into the hut. One was the woman who had led him to the village, one was wearing a belt with shining bottles, and one was wrinkled and old. The old one looked at him with pure amazement. "So…this is the creature you have brought here, Kalana?" She said.

"So that's what her name is…" Mewtwo thought.

"Yes this is it. I found it lying in a large crater with these severe injuries. It seems intelligent, but it is unable to talk." Kalana said.

"I see." The old one said. She walked up to the side of Mewtwo's bed. She scrutinized every inch of him with her eyes. Mewtwo felt very uncomfortable. The hut seemed to be excruciatingly hot, even though it was night, and his leg was beginning to swell and the pain was unbearable. She seemed to have examined him for hours.

"Are you in a lot of pain?" She asked him suddenly. He shook out of his glazed like state and nodded intently. She poked his knee, and the pain nearly caused him to black out. He groaned in pain. "I see. Fara, please help him. Kalana, please come with me." With that, the old one walked out, followed by Kalana. Fara eased over to Mewtwo's bedside.

Fara examined Mewtwo's leg thoroughly. "Looks like you got into quite a snit." She said. "At least a severe sprain in the ankle, the obvious bone displacement in the knee and shin, and a dislocated hip. This will take some time to heal." She said. She reached down to her belt and pulled out a bottle filled with red liquid. She popped out the cork and handed it to him.

Mewtwo gave her a confused look. "Oh yes, you probably don't know about potions do you?" She said. "It's quite simple, just drink it, and it will work to heal you. If you had just a flesh wound, it would heal instantly, but since bones are displaced, it will take some time. It will relieve most of the pain, but this is some injury, so it won't take care of all of it."

Mewtwo looked at the strange red liquid, and sat up and took a swig. He felt the effects almost immediately. It was an intoxicating warmth that spread throughout his body. It reminded him of the spring in Purity Canyon. He felt most of the pain stop, and the fog in his mind cleared. The room seemed to cool slightly, and his vision cleared. He drank the rest of the potion, and felt the world around him come back into focus. He felt invigorated, and tried to sit up, only to get a jolting reminder that it wouldn't block all the pain. He fell back into the bed.

"There. Now make sure to stay in bed for the rest of the morning, and don't try to get up. Most likely it will take all morning and most of tomorrow to heal." Fara said. Mewtwo smiled appreciatively, and Fara walked out.

Mewtwo tried to relax. The howling winds outside rattled the walls of his little hut, and the pink line of dawn appeared on the horizon outside his door. He yawned heavily, and suddenly voices caught his attention. He heard Kalana and the elder talking outside his hut. He couldn't help but to listen in.

"Are you sure this is wise?" The old one said.

"Trust in my judgment, honorable Mother, I can tell he is trustworthy." Kalana said.

"Why does he not speak? This is the same way of the monsters of old. They understood speech, but did not talk. I do not think this is wise."

"Trust me elder. I know what I am doing." Kalana said.

Mewtwo was jolted by a sound he hadn't heard in years, the crowing of a rooster. He shook his head and noticed that it was indeed dawn. He laid back and closed his eyes. A good day's sleep would help clear his mind, which was now a cluttered mess once again.

Mewtwo was again jolted awake by a blaring horn. His eyes darted around the room, and then he remembered, he was in a village in a desert in some odd dimension. He shook his head and looked down at his knee. He gasped with shock when he saw that the bone had retreated nearly all the way back into his knee. Not to mention the flesh around his knee was pink and healthy, not green and full of sand like it had been before he had fallen asleep. He looked out, and it was early evening. There was a column of armored soldiers standing in the village square. The elder, wearing a large headdress, shouted something in a strange language, and the column marched out of the village with a steady thump thump. Then Kalana poked her head into the hut.

"I see our raid woke you up. I'm sorry." She said, walking in. Mewtwo smiled sheepishly. "Your leg looks better. It should be fully healed before sunset." Kalana said. Mewtwo felt his ankle, and found it was completely healed. He rotated it with ease, and looked at his hip. The joint was also back in place. He moved his whole leg, and his face turned red with agony from the still fragile knee.

"Don't move that, or it will heal wrong." Kalana said. "So you are nocturnal?"

Mewtwo nodded. He made a note in the back of his head. She was a witty one, and he would do best to stay on her good side.

"You must have very well developed eyes." She said. "They are the deepest purple I've ever seen, along with your tail. I never got a chance to really see what you look like up close. Do you mind if I do now?"

Mewtwo nodded reluctantly. Normally, he thought of his appearance to be freakish and gigantic, but when a friend wanted to thoroughly inspect him, he felt like pulling a paper bag over his head. Kalana stared at him with the same intensity that the elder had early that morning.

When Kalana was satisfied, she looked up and stared Mewtwo in the eye. She seemed to probe right into Mewtwo's very soul, examining it in all its wretchedness. He hoped she was right about her judgments about him.

"You're not a demon at all, are you?" She asked, almost as if she didn't expect an answer at all. Mewtwo shook his head. "Your heart is not evil, but it is not pure either. I can tell you mean no harm to us. If only the elder felt the same way. I must tell you, she thinks you are a demon. She wants you expelled back out into the desert on your own to die. I will not let her, but your odd horns do not help." Kalana said.

Mewtwo was sick of not being able to talk. He made a writing gesture with his paws, and Kalana smiled. "You want to tell me something? I'll go get a pen and some parchment." She said, walking out. Mewtwo smiled again, feeling mildly content with his newfound friend. The fact that she trusted him pulled loads of stress off his mind, and suddenly, the bone in his leg pulled all the way in with a loud crack! Mewtwo was knocked back by another moment of searing pain, and he then felt the flesh grow over the hole where the bone had stuck out.

Mewtwo cautiously moved his knee. When no pain came, he moved it a little more, until it was flexed all the way. He laughed aloud happily and jumped to his feet. He danced around the inside of the hut, feeling euphoric. It was good to be mobile again. Kalana came back with a smile. "I see you are feeling a little better." She said. Mewtwo smiled gleefully, and sat down, taking the parchment and feather pen. He then began writing his life's story. It would take more than one sheet of parchment too.

Chapter IV

The vile desert had been expanding long before the day of great evil, but when it came, the last few remnants of life in the world seemed to disappear. Only the wandering tribes and those who joined the empire remained. But legends say of a great forest that remains on the edge of the desert to the east, ever shrinking, ever diminishing, and leading down to the sea. This is where the legends say the young Gerudo princess fled to after her love was killed on the day of great evil. What lies across the eastern sea however, is a great mystery.

Mewtwo smiled with content while he watched the elder read through his life's short story. She seemed to register a little shock on her wrinkled face. She looked up from the reading for a second, and caught his eye. She seemed critical, like a health inspector going over a fast food joint. Mewtwo shuddered for an instant, and then the elder went back to reading.

Suddenly, she set the parchment pages on the ground and smiled at Kalana. "You were right my daughter. A demon of old could not write, and most certainly could not declare himself to be not a demon. It was against the laws of magic. You were right, he is not a demon."

Kalana smiled warmly. "You can tell by his eyes, elder. He does not have a black soul." She said.

The elder looked at Mewtwo with scrutiny again. "But I want you to teach him to speak. His odd horns and inability to talk will surely rile and scare the village goers if they should wander in here."

Mewtwo swallowed hard in hearing this. In the Pokemon world, it took years of rigorous training to make a Pokemon talk, and he didn't plan on staying here long enough to learn to talk, even though he was without his powers. He smiled sheepishly at the elder. She gave him a cold scowl, and for the first time, Mewtwo felt someone with a stronger will than his. He was thoroughly shaken.

Later that night, Mewtwo was in his hut with Kalana in his first talking lesson when the elder walked in. The traces of her coldness were gone. She smiled cheerfully.

"How are the lessons coming?" She asked.

"Not so well." Kalana said. "I think I've found out why he does not talk".

"Why is that?" the Elder asked.

"Look at his mouth. It is small and underdeveloped. I am amazed that he can even eat." Kalana said. "Show her."

Mewtwo leaned his head back and opened his small mouth. Once again he felt like a freak and wanted to disappear.

"I see. How do you eat anyways?" The Elder asked.

Mewtwo scribbled on his parchment: "I can eat like anyone else. I just take small bites."

The elder smiled again. "That makes sense. I'm sure you can learn. But I came in to talk to you about something else. Did you hear the horns blow this afternoon while you were asleep?" she asked.

Mewtwo nodded. He remembered, and this sparked his curiosity.

"They were the call to arms. Every few days we assemble together and go on a raid to the nearby imperial mine. We break in, steal food, and take the water from the pools nearby. The mines are odd things. They produce no pollution, and large pipes dump pure water out into the desert as a waste product. We have tried peacefully to negotiate deals with them, but for some odd reason they always shoot at us whenever we take water from the ponds of water they produce. So we randomly conduct raids to steal water and food. We do this to survive."

Mewtwo took it all in. This was truly a strange world where water was pollution and it was illegal to steal waste. His thoughts were interrupted by the elder.

"We have been doing this ever since they came and destroyed all the natural sources of water. It has been 500 years now since they were built. I remember I was still a young guard in training back then, and the legends of the princess and the warlock were still avidly told.

Mewtwo gave her a quizzical look, and scribbled on his parchment: "What is the legend of the princess and the warlock?"

The elder smiled warmly. "My my my, it's been nearly 100 years since I've told it. Well, let me try to remember." The elder said. She sat down on a chair and put her chin in her hands. She sat there silently for a long time, and then broke into the legend.

"In the days when the vile desert was still young, there lived a beautiful young Gerudo princess of another tribe. She was born with a great gift of magic; she could control minds with her words. If she commanded you to clean her house, you found yourself doing it. She was a fiery and headstrong young girl, still at the age of 40 on that fateful day she met the old man. She was on singular patrol duty when she met this odd old man, hunched over and wrinkled. He was polite and kind, and she brought him back to her village. There, he demonstrated his great magic power. He could manipulate physical matter at a whim. He flew stones around the perimeter of the village, and turned himself into a handsome young man. Of course, all the villagers were frightened beyond sense, and a small riot erupted. The tribe's elder stopped the riot, and banished the princess from her home village."

"Instead of using her power to gain back access to the village, she left with the warlock and they eloped. Whenever she wished it, the old man turned into a handsome young man, and love flourished. They traveled the desert together, simply on whims, with the warlock simply creating all the food they needed. They were both happy. Then the day of great evil came. A monstrous and powerful force conquered the Eastern kingdom on the edge of the desert, and sent slave laborers into the desert to build the mines. When the mines were activated, the warlock lost all of his powers while they were out in a stretch of desert, and he soon starved to death. In his last breath, he reached down towards his belt of gold, but before he could touch it, he died. The princess was devastated. She gave the warlock a decent burial and took his golden belt to remember him by. She then fled towards the east, hoping to find and destroy the empire. She hasn't been seen since."

The elder smiled again. "I have enjoyed telling you the tale. But I must retire for the night. It is late, that is, for me. You must be sleepy too, after being woken up so many times today. Good night!" The elder said, then ducked out.

Kalana smiled at Mewtwo. "Are you hungry?" She asked.

Mewtwo nodded eagerly. He hadn't eaten in nearly a day.

Chapter V

Scattered across the desert are ruins of a society of old. On them are inscribed tales of the days of prosperity before the vile desert. They tell of a single Gerudo tribe that lived alongside the elven people called the Hylians. The two races traded together freely, until a Gerudo male of great power was born. He rose quickly to become king of the Gerudo thieves, and soon conquered both the desert and the great land around it. But his heart was of evil, and he created a black pall over the land. Some believe this is when the desert began to expand. Then, a hero emerged and destroyed the King of Evil, and peace was restored to the land. But peace could not last long, and after this bloody conquest by a Gerudo King, the Hylians and Gerudos drifted apart. Soon a war broke out, and the Hyians set a great curse on the Gerudos. The nature of the curse was a mystery, but soon afterwards, the desert's expansion became noticeable, and the Hylian's land diminished.

It had been two weeks since Mewtwo arrived at the Gerudo village, and he had still not been found out by the villagers other than Kalana, the Elder, and her guards. Mewtwo was getting the hand of pronunciation, and he could say simple sentences, even though he stuttered often. He found out after he first started talking that his speaking voice was much different from his psychic voice. It was soft and somewhat monotone, but he didn't talk well yet, so he didn't know its full extent.

Mewtwo was getting royally tired of being cooped up in this tiny little hut. The mud walls were pressing in on him, and he wished that he could talk better just so that the Elder would let him out of his hut.

Another night fell, and another lesson came and went, and Mewtwo was extremely restless. Every time the Elder assembled the troops and went on a raid, he felt hotness in his blood, and wished that he could join them in battle. The armor gleaming in the sun and the steady marching awakened in him a thirst for blood, something that he only felt when he had fits of rage. After the column of soldiers would return, he would feel afraid of how he had felt. He knew this vile battle lust could drive him to unspeakable horrors. He tried to put it out of his mind and concentrate on his talking lessons.

After another two weeks, he was becoming a proficient talker. He could talk in normal sentences to express all his basic thoughts, but complicated sentences and grammar were difficult. It was becoming incredibly infuriating for him that he could understand the language top to bottom in his head, but could not pronounce it.

One night, Kalana was confident enough in him to have the elder come in and listen to Mewtwo recite a poem he had written. He had always been a poet at heart, and since he now had nothing else to do, he wrote poetry. This was a fairy complex poem, and he had spent nearly a week practicing and rehearsing. Soon he felt he was ready.

The elder pulled up a chair, and Mewtwo did a few anti-nervousness exercises. He breathed deeply, and began his poem.

"Among us all, destiny clearly rings true,

But all that is destined is not a clear hue.

Each creature's fair purpose lies shrouded in mist,

Some have found theirs, and some of them missed.

We must all find our destiny, our guiding light,

To lead us true through life's dark and black night.

And my destiny is still yet to be found,

Sifting through the dark sands profound.

So I continue to slog through life's deep swamp,

Following the will o' the wisp as I tromp,

I may not make it, but then I just may,

To find my true purpose in dark or in day."

A small, almost unnoticeable tear ran down the elder's cheek. She stood up and hugged Mewtwo. "You, my friend have worked hard to be accepted by me. And so it shows now. I now grant you permission to leave your hut, that is, after I've given you an introduction to the villagers." She began walking out, then turned around and said, "By the way, that was one of the most moving poems I've heard in 75 years.'

"Thank you." Mewtwo said. The elder walked out, and Kalana rushed up and hugged Mewtwo again. He nearly lost balance and toppled over, but managed to catch himself. He wasn't used to being hugged. It certainly was a new experience for him.

The next night was going to be a feast. By now, Mewtwo was slowly turning diurnal, and found night to be a much better time for sleep. The darkness promoted sleep, and the sun rising provided the perfect wake up call. His advanced speaking lessons were to start tomorrow, and the elder was going to hold a feast in his honor that night. Once again he felt nervous, and he was sure he could tell something bad was going to happen. He tried to shake it off, arguing with himself that his powers were gone, and that he couldn't see the future if he tried. Still, a black shroud hovered in the back of his mind, overshadowing his concentration on his final basic speech lesson.

On the big night, the villagers were all gathered in the village square, squawking with gossip in a strange tongue Mewtwo couldn't understand. A table full of delicacies was behind the small podium that had been erected. The elder stepped up to the podium, and the crowd silenced instantly. The elder said something in their language, and the whole crowd repeated it. She then began speaking in English again.

"My loyal and honorable Gerudo tribeswomen, I welcome you all to tonight's feast for the everlasting goddesses. But before the feast begins, I'd like to tell you a story, about a wanderer. When my loyal guard Kalana was on a scouting patrol four weeks ago, she stumbled across this monstrous looking creature severely injured amongst the dunes. Foolishly, she brought is here. She also convinced me to provide treatment for it. As soon as it healed however, my doubts were abolished. The creature, who greatly resembles the demons of old, wrote with his own hands, his life story.

He was found to be a sentient being like you or I, but he was mute. So for the past four weeks, we have been speech training him, and now he can speak fairly well in this common tongue. I feel that now I might be able to introduce him to all of you. Do not be frightened by his appearances, for he has proven to be decent and wholesome."

The elder beckoned to Mewtwo, who was sitting behind her. He breathed deeply, and stepped up. The crowd broke out into crazed whispering and murmuring, and one woman in the back screamed and ran into her hut. Mewtwo felt himself start to sweat. He then began speaking.

"My name is Mewtwo, and I am not a demon. I am not evil, merely a lone wanderer. I came to your world in an hour of need, and you have given me food and shelter. Thank you for your kindness." He then stepped down. The crowd was silent in awe. No one dared speak, and then the elder returned to the podium.

"I have proven beyond a doubt that he means us no harm, so I am hereby awarding him a full membership in our Gerudo tribe. You all are to respect him like a brother, and to treat him fairly and without fear or prejudice. And now, let the feast begin!"

The Gerudos all descended on the feast table like a pack of ants, and Mewtwo stood by silently, waiting for the frenzy to calm down before getting his own food. There was also something odd tugging on his mind. While he was up at the podium talking to the Gerudos, he never saw a single man in the entire assembly. He puzzled on this, trying to remember correctly when Kalana walked up to him with her tray of food. Mewtwo seized this opportunity and asked the question that bothered him, "Where are the men?"

Kalana nearly choked on her food, and said, "What do you mean?"

"Where are all your men? All I saw were women in here." Mewtwo said.

Kalana looked at Mewtwo with a serious frown. "I wondered when you'd ask that." She said. "Go back to your hut, I'll get the elder."

Mewtwo winced. He sensed that he had struck a very sensitive topic. He hoped that he had not offended Kalana; she was becoming his closest friend. He walked back into his hut, the chattering of the villagers at the feast behind him. "This could get ugly." He thought to himself.

Later that night, as Mewtwo started drifting to sleep, he reflected back on the day. He had finished his last basic speech lesson, been set free from his hut prison, introduced to the village, became a member of the tribe, and learned a great deal about the people he was living with.

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long! School's been a whirling vortex of homework, projects, and studying. I barely have time to write at all. Anyways, expect my work rate to double once school ends, and the next chunk in June!